


The N.E.R.D.S. Of Days Yet To Come

by OriginalWeird



Category: N.E.R.D.S. - Michael Buckley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-09-23 07:22:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20336311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OriginalWeird/pseuds/OriginalWeird
Summary: I wrote a future AU. This is it.While the story doesn't focus on the team we know, we'll be seeing them around.





	1. Chapter 1

Hey! It's nice to see you again. Well, I say again, but it's my first time taking your files. Normally Agent Beanpole takes you, huh? Okay, you'll have me this time. It's a pleasure to meet you. Sorry, I'm afraid I was never officially inducted as a member of this wonderful organisation, so I don't have any name to give you, but go ahead and give me yours anyway, would you?

Wow, that's really your codename? That's a first. Hm. You want to talk to Benjamin about getting that changed? I'd be happy to help with that.

Well, if you like it, stick with it, right?

Yeah. Okay, so you've been learning about The Greatest Team, haven't you? The ones that will go down in history, those who defeated ultimate evil, the incredible ones? Ah, I thought so. Buck-Beanpole always starts with them, then moves on to his team, and then these guys, but I think he should be the one to tell you about his team, so I'm skipping ahead a little bit. Has he told you about The File yet?

Huh. I usually start with The File. 

The File is a file that contains everything it's possible to know about every team that ever existed or will exist. Including the future ones. It has thoughts, it has worlds, it has futures. 

It was given to us by an all-powerful team of N.E.R.D.S. We use it quite a lot when teaching new agents. It's pretty awesome. 

Say, have you given any thought to what you're going to do after you leave the team?

Oh. That's fine. How about you think about it while you read this file, yeah?

What do you mean, Beanpole makes you do things before he gives you access?

Oh, our supervisor's gonna hear about that one. Just think, that's all you gotta do. Let's go!

LEVEL 1 ACCESS GRANTED  
(BEGIN TRANSMISSION)

IMAGE UNABLE TO TRANSMIT. IMAGE BEING PROCESSED.

SUBJECT IDENTIFIED. CASSEE KING. CODENAME DAYDREAM. PULLS ITEMS AND CONCEPTS FROM HER FANTASY WORLD.

SUBJECT IDENTIFIED. ROXY HALL. CODENAME EMEROUS. CHALLENGES IMPOSSIBLE TO BACK DOWN FROM.

SUBJECT INDENTIFIED. LESLEY THORNE. CODENAME BOOKWORM. CREATES ILLUSIONS FROM MEMORISED PARAGRAPHS.

SUBJECT IDENTIFIED. ASHTON QUEENS. CODENAME INSOMNIAC. SUMMONS THE DEMONS FROM HIS NIGHTMARES.

SUBJECT IDENTIFED. ELIJAH WESTONE. CODENAME SILVERTONGUE. TURNS LIES ABOUT HIS OWN CAPABILITIES TO TRUTH. 

IMAGE TRANSMISSION UNSUCCESSFUL. 

FILE TRANSMISSION LOADING…

1

It had been a long time since the man had done anything particularly special. He was a genius first and foremost, but he was an actor almost as much. Faking one's death was never a particularly simple task, but he'd grown better at it over the years. It wasn't as if he ever needed to do anything difficult to fool the simpletons who inhabited this miserable dirtball. 

He didn't change his appearance. If you looked ordinary enough, no-one looked twice. 

People didn't ask for your name if you didn't have one. 

Nobody talked about your motivations if you were a blank slate. 

He got in with the right sort of people-The Right Sort-and allowed them to take care of him for a small share in his incredible plans. Before he even really got to play his cards, take advantages of their opportunities, the wrong sort of people would swoop in on their interfering way and ruin everything.

He hated those people. 

He hated all people. 

Someday, he would be alone, would be self-sufficient, unbothered. But for now, he took the moments of peace he can get. 

After all, he couldn't give up now. He was too close. 

2

Cassee King liked to appreciate the little things.

She felt completely at peace in this moment, utterly enraptured by the sunbeams kissing her pigtails, the light breeze playing with her twirly skirt. She was in a meadow-a field straight out of a storybook, beautiful flowers scattered through the grass so soft she could sleep on it. The sky was so blue it almost hurt her eyes to gaze up at it, but gaze she did, because the cotton-candy clouds were so absolutely perfect it would have been a crime not to appreciate them.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, just for a second.

When she opened her eyes again, they fell on a butterfly. It shone, a million rainbows for wings, so perfect she got up and attempted to walk over to it, intentions of it landing on her firm in her mind. She stretched one hand out, a single finger for the butterfly to alight on offered, and watched with bated breath as it slowly fluttered, considered her-

At this exact moment, Roxy Hall ran past, on fire.

Cassee looked at the fleeing figure and noted that it was her bestest friend. Her bestest friend had come to visit her in this nice meadow? 

Wait, why was her bestest friend on fire?

Roxy was followed by a goon, the sort Cassee had seen a million times before, carrying a baseball bat and a laser gun. The goon was being pursued by two of Cassee's other friends; Lesley Thorne and Elijah Westone. Both of her other friends were screaming bloody murder. 

Cassee was confused. How were all these people in her meadow? Where had her butterfly gone?

Two demons, twice the size of an average man and twenty times as muscular, the colour of blood with eyes of void, strode past, their every step earth-shattering. Each of them had a half-dozen goons tucked under their arms. Wait, if there were demons, then there was bound to be…

"Ashton!"

Cassee launched herself at Ashton Queens's back without stopping to think about any other options. Ashton was here now and everything would be fine. Other than a slight oof, he barely reached to the surprise piggyback, and instead grabbed her feet and kept walking.

"Hey, Sunshine."

Cassee didn't quite know how it had come to happen, but Ashton always referred to her as Sunshine, or the sunshine child, or something along those lines. He said a lot of silly things, if people wanted to ask her, but people rarely did. Cassee noticed that her meadow seemed a little bit…off. 

"Ashton, where are we?"

"Oh, we're in an abandoned warehouse. Villain's lair."

Oh. Well, they were now but hadn't they just been in a meadow? No, that couldn't be right. They were walking through said warehouse, following Ashton's demons, and they were heading towards a pair of huge doors. 

"Ashton?"

"Hm?"

"We weren't here."

"Where were we?"

"In a really pretty meadow. Ashton, I had a butterfly. Where's my butterfly now?"

She heard Ashton sigh. She knew asking lots of questions made him tired-well, more tired than normal, but where…where was her butterfly?

"Well, I don't know. Maybe if you tell me about it I'll be able to spot it, alright?"

Cassee launched into a gleeful explanation of the perfection of her butterfly and Ashton nodded at all the right intervals, pulling her up when her big arm gestures made her slide down. She kept looking around the warehouse as she did so, and noticed that there was a good deal of smoke wafting around the open doors.

"…Ashton?"

"Yeah, Sunshine?"

"Why is there smoke?"

"Emerous was on fire. Didn't you see her run past?"

Emerous? OH! She was supposed to be using all the codenames. Roxy, her bestest friend, was Agent Emerous, and she was very silly for forgetting to say that stuff.

"Oh, darn it, sorry Insomniac. I saw her, I guess."

"You didn't really…see her though, huh?"

"Nope."

That was, evidently, good enough for Agent Insomniac. Cassee-oop. Agent Daydream was happy enough with this, and so hummed to herself as they kept going. Insomniac seemed calm enough, even if seemed to be falling asleep on his feet. He always was, which was something Daydream worried about more than she'd care to admit. However, no worrying now, evil had been defeated, it was time for friends!

Speaking of friends…

A still-smouldering Emerous, a cross Lesley-a cross Bookworm, and a twitchy-looking Elijah-Silvertongue!-were waiting just outside the doors, a unconscious goon almost identical to the ones the demons carried at their feet. At a half-nod from Insomniac, the demons deposited their goons on top of that one and then vanished into the air. Daydream found herself transferred from Insomniac's back to Emerous's. It was a familiar transition, one that she always ended up giggling through while her two perfectly stoic friends exchanged incredulous looks. Behind the three, Bookworm tapped her foot and Silvertongue tried very, very hard to look nonchalant. He did not come even close to succeeding. 

The group set off at a snail's pace, and had been walking for almost a full, record-breaking minute before the first argument began. 

"Emerous? How did you manage to set yourself on fire?"

Bookworm's genuinely-concerned mask was cracking fast, their eyebrows raised just a little too high, their eyes hiding just a little bit too much tension. 

"Well, gee, I dunno, Bookworm, maybe it was running through all the goddamn laser fire, you absolute lizard tail?"

"Well, WOW, Emerous, I wonder if you could have not gone running recklessly through laser fire. I wonder if some guy who could make himself fireproof with a sentence could have done it instead."

Two accusatory glares were sent at Silvertongue, who attempted to whistle, but lacked the ability, and ended up blowing a raspberry. Daydream started singing something to herself. 

"Bookworm, this is coming from the individual who couldn't take down a single goon?"

"I would have got the one chasing you if someone hadn't yelled 'I have super strength!' and ran at him."

"Sure you would have."

"Yes, I would have!"

"You wanna prove it?"

"Was that a challenge?"

Daydream tightened her grip around Emerous's neck and pointed ahead.

"Hey look, we're there!"

The group had, in fact, arrived at a beaten-up school bus over the course of the argument. She let herself drop to the ground and sprinted into the bus, launching herself at the midsection of the first person waiting in it, a person who happened to be the research specialist for her team.

"Hello, Agent Daydream."

Mindy Beauchamp patted the top of the brunette's head, knowing full well that the child in question was impossible to wrench away from a waist once she'd decided you were receiving a hug. She liked her job, and liked making sure her team were never as unprepared as she had been for countless missions working as an assassin, and several as a spy. Finding out information wasn't hard-most people seemed happy enough to let her look at classified information after a quick joke and a shared laugh.

"You did well in the first part of the mission, Daydream, and you were only very distracted during the last fifteen minutes."

"Is that a new record?"

Before the small brunette could receive her answer, a man emerged from the cockpit and she moved on to hugging him.

"Hey, Cassee."

"Hey Mr Jones-Mr Jackson-Jackson!"

Jackson Jones smiled at the youngest agent on the team he directed. She wanted to address him-to address all adults-with respect, but he'd told her-told the whole team-time and time again that he was, that he always would be, Jackson. Her enthusiasm was, doubtlessly, very contagious. The rest of the team traipsed in, and lowered said enthusiasm's levels by more than you'd think they'd be able to.

Jackson had told the team-more than once-that 'back when he was a N.E.R.D.', the adults had been three people instead of two, because neither their research specialist nor their director had been particularly competent flying the school bus. Their research specialist and director tended argue over who got to fly it. And then showed off with a great deal of slightly perilous tricks.

When the school bus took off, Cassee was sitting next to Roxy and talking, for the second time today, about her butterfly. In front of them, Lesley was attempting to read, and behind them, Ashton tried not to sleep. Elijah, who had thrown up the first time he'd been on the school bus and then every time since, was sitting in a corner holding a sick bag and Not Talking.

Cassee was explaining just how absolutely breathtaking the effect of the sun hitting the butterfly's wings had been when Lesley made an almost-absent remark-

"This author does spies an awful lot better than that Viscounts and Villainy crud."

Roxy was standing up before the sentence had finished.

"Every time! Lesley Thorne, you're an insufferable-"

Cassee stopped talking about her butterfly. It was useless, trying to talk to Roxy when someone insulted her favourite books. It was also something Lesley did often. Usually, you'd trust Lesley's opinion on books-how could you not trust a person who read as much as they did?-but Roxy loved Viscounts and Villainy, even the cliché bits, and especially the strong, silent protagonist, who she idolised completely. Their arguments about the series had continued on for so long, at this point they'd moved to arguing about everything.

Cassee didn't like it a whole bunch when her friends argued.

But, well-

Oh! Um. 

Hadn't she just been on the school bus? Where was this?

Cassee King was on a very nice longue-thing, and everything looked nice, and shiny, and there was a whole bunch of food on a small table in front of her.

Well, she was very hungry. Maybe she'd been imaging the bus?

Yeah, that had to be it. She'd been imaging the bus, because here she was, on a longue, with heaps of snacks to choose from. Well, those strawberries over there looked pretty nice, but that was a whole bunch of chocolate, and she didn't really want to have to chose which thing to have first-

"How about this, madame?"

She didn't quite know where this guy had come from, but she was being presented with a whole pile of chocolate-covered strawberries on an actual silver platter. He sounded very familiar, very trustworthy. 

It was a little odd that she couldn't see his face.

Well, she was just going to have one of these, and-

"-SEE! CASSEE!"

…where had her longue gone?

Cassee spun around just in time to see a chocolate-covered strawberry fall on Ashton's head. Said boy, who had been clearly falling asleep, jolted awake. 

"You alright, Cassee?"

No, Roxy, she certainly was not, she'd gone and woken Ashton up, which he would be thankful for. She sure wouldn't-he didn't sleep, and that just wasn't any good, thank you. He needed to be sleeping more, and nightmares just weren't a good enough excuse for the bags under his eyes. 

Sure enough, Ashton smiled at her and started eating the strawberry. Roxy, evidently now happy that Cassee was aware of the world around her, went back to discussing what made a good villain with Lesley. Cassee unbuckled herself and crept towards the cockpit.

She had intended to burst straight in and tell Miss Beauchamp and Jackson that she'd messed up and woken Ashton up again, that Elijah had already filled two sick bags and they were running out, but then she noticed they were calling someone. She hung back, and observed the hologram. She didn't want to be rude.

"-which was really very resourceful, a good deal more than you ever were, Braceface."

"Yeah, yeah, Pufferfish."

Oh! It was okay. It was just General Peet! She was the best. She was Miss Beauchamp and Jackson's boss, and she visited them at the Playground a bunch, and she was really nice! She wouldn't mind if Cassee told them about-

"Which brings me to something I was hoping we'd be able to stop before I had to mention it."

…that didn't sound like a conversation Cassee should interrupt.

"Which would be?"

Miss Beauchamp even sounded a little bit worried.

Cassee hadn't heard Miss Beauchamp sound worried before.

Even though Cassee knew the hologram was just facing out, that it couldn't actually see her or anything, she still swore General Peet was facing right at her when she said the next sentence.

"A villain the N.E.R.D.S. can't handle."


	2. Chapter 2

Oh, you're back! Sorry it took me so long-as you'll see, my transmission rate is a heckload slower than Beanpole's. I try, but I can't even get images through the system. Just not much of a tech person, I'm afraid. I think this monitor knows it, I think it's holding a grudge, but the supervisor says that's ridiculous, so-

Ah! I did it again. Sorry agent, I'm the worst when it comes to staying on topic. I'm trying, promise, but Beanpole's always been better at this stuff. 

Did you think about what I asked you to?

You know, what you're going to do after you have to leave N.E.R.D.S.-I'm sorry, but spy work isn't something everyone can do forever. I wanted to be a spy. I never got to. I'm a correspondent, though, which is good! It's close! Of course, I don't actually get to witness any of the explosions…the drama…the heroism…but I get to tell people about it. Yeah.

Anyhow, you given it any thought?

Yeah, I had a bit of trouble deciding too. Didn't even know the position I have existed. Maybe your perfect career is like that too! 

I'm going to look into it. Okay? You read these in the meantime. There's less, because this monitor is being testy and I can't put enough through, but I hope it'll be enough for at least a little while.

LEVEL 2 ACCESS GRANTED  
(BEGIN TRANSMISSION)

3

Cassee King would be the absolute first person to admit she really, really sucked when it came to sparring.

She didn't have the instincts, the strength, the reaction time…she was slow. She was, however, going to have to learn something, because you couldn't be an agent without at least some hand-to-hand combat skill. So, she was going to have to get some. 

Good thing the team had a brilliant instructor!

Once-sometimes twice-a week, Matilda Choi gave fighting instruction lessons.

N.E.R.D.S. kept contact with former agents who went into potentially useful careers, and Cassee couldn't think of many things better than a woman who was so good at wrestling she won men's worldwide championships and opened her own gyms and dojos. She was very, very good at teaching fighting, and respected by the team, despite barely being taller than Lesley, the second-shortest member of the team. 

Some of the current team were not very good at learning.

"Alright, partnering up, please."

Immediately, there was chaos.

Cassee's left arm was grabbed, in an enthusiastic, determined manner, by Roxy, and her right-with a lot less enthusiasm-by Ashton. Lesley stared determinedly into the distance. Elijah yelled something in Roxy's general direction and was ignored. Matilda sighed.

"Maybe I should ask Braceface to just give you permanently assigned partners... Honestly, stop pulling Daydream, this is not tug-of-war, Emerous, you have to learn to work with Bookworm, you'll be their partner. Silvertongue, that leaves you with me."

Elijah, who always found himself without a partner, trudged dejectedly to the front of the room and took the prepared stance he'd been taught to do over the course of about three or four weeks. 

"We're working on throws, namely, what to do if your attacker punches to your body."

Elijah, paying exactly zero attention, was looking at Roxy and Lesley whispering an argument. 

"Silvertongue, please."

"I was paying attention!"

The compulsive liar couldn't have looked more surprised if he attempted it. Seeing as he was a rather terrible actor, that wasn't saying much. He threw a ridiculously weak punch. Matilda moved faster than Cassee could see, throwing Elijah onto his back. 

"Silvertongue, as I've said. I'm not made of glass, and neither are your villains. You have to at least try."

Elijah, from the ground, wheezed weakly. 

"Again."

Cassee swayed on the spot. Getting Elijah to punch well enough for examples always took forever. 

A second punch was thrown, a little better. Matilda slowly went through the steps.

"Block-step-grab-pull-throw."

Elijah was on the ground again.

"Okay, do you understand, or should we try a few more times?"

Elijah's eyes were wide.

"No…more…examples!"

Cassee giggled, looking at the expression on his face. One of her shoulders got tapped. She spun around and grinned at Ashton. He managed some sort of half-smile.

Aw, he was trying.

"You going first, Sunshine?"

"I'm getting thrown first, if that's what you mean."

Cassee had a pretty bad memory. It came with the bad perception of reality. She noted that Roxy had Lesley in a headlock, which definitely wasn't part of the throw…right? Oh. Um.

Maybe it was?

This was why she was punching first. Cassee stepped forward and threw her best punch. It was, by absolutely no standards she's seen, a very good punch, but it was her best. Ashton blocked it, grabbed her wrist, pulled her towards him and-

Well, this sure wasn't the training room. 

Cassee and Ashton were in a ballroom, and they were at some kind of dance. Cassee felt fancy-like she'd stepped right out of an old-school portrait. She noted, as she was twirled around to the soft, slow music, that Ashton looked pretty nice right now.

As soon as she'd entered the ballroom, she was out of it again, lying winded on the training room's floor.

Oh…she'd really liked that one. 

Never mind. Ashton had put his hand out to help her up, so she took it. 

Was she imaging that crash?

No, there had definitely been a crash, everyone else looked surprised too. Matilda sighed quietly and stormed over to the door of the training room. The team followed like a line of intrigued ducklings. The team peered out into the playground's main room. Cassee slapped her hand over her mouth. She had to be imagining this, because it looked like one of the jetpacks had taken off on its own and knocked everything off about a dozen benches. In the middle of the chaos, a man holding a screwdriver stood, looking rather guilty. Two scientists holding notepads peered up over the edges of the bench they'd evidentially dived under when the jetpack had taken off.

Okay, Cassee maybe hadn't imagined this, she wouldn't have made Matilda look so cross.

"Duncan, what the hell have you done."

It was not a question. The man in question dropped the screwdriver as if he could somehow avoid the blame if he wasn't holding it.

"Well, I-Honey, I sort of-This isn't-"

"Duncan Dewey, why are you not supposed to experiment places that aren't the garage we paid so much to make basically indestructible?"

"They were just having trouble calibrating-"

"Duncan?"

"Yeah, this one was pretty stupid."

The man was smiling now, as he walked over toward the small woman and the gaping choir of small-ish spies. He smiled at Matilda, calm despite the fact her eyes screamed 'impending doom'. He proceeded to literally sweep her off her feet. It took approximately three seconds for her to burst into laughter.

"Damn…damn you."

"You love me."

"No kidding, why else would I have married you?"

Cassee's face hurt a little bit, she was smiling far too hard. When Matilda visited, Duncan tended to come with her, and tended to help scientists with various experiments. It was no secret that he was a mechanical genius-the man was in the process of inventing the first affordable flying car, though something or other hadn't been copywrited yet, so Cassee wasn't supposed to tell people about that. They'd both been on Jackson's team, which Cassee knew because they tended to call each other-

"Hey! Wheezer! Gluestick! Stop traumatising my agents!"

Matilda, who had been kissing Duncan, stopped doing so for exactly long enough to stick her tongue out at the director, and then continued. Jackson enthusiastically pretended to puke. Cassee laughed at them. 

It would be cool if she could stay friends with her teammates for as long as those guys had. 

"Seriously, guys, you're blocking the door-"

Duncan set Matilda down and threw one arm around her shoulder, both of them grinning like morons. 

"Ah, whatever, you're just jealous, Braceface."

Matilda punctuated her statement by leaning over and punching Jackson's arm. The man laughed it off, but pressed his other hand over it. 

"I'm not jealous. I'm cool, I'm free, not tied down…"

Duncan raised his eyebrow.

"Wow, really? You aren't even a little bit hung up on-"

"What are you guys talking about?"

Cassee laughed at the face Jackson had made when Miss Beauchamp walked over. She intended to keep listening, but found herself being dragged away.

"Roxy, why do we have to go?"

"Grown-up conversation, Cassee. We're going to get snacks."

"Snacks!"

The conversation was forgotten. The team sat around the vending machine, eating, talking, and watching Cassee go through twelve chocolate bars in two minutes. She was wholly unaware of the world around her.

Of course, Cassee wasn't sitting around the vending machine with everyone else. She was lounging in her mansion, listening to one of her favourite songs, eating the chocolate bars her butler was bringing her. Somewhere in the distance, the doorbell chimed. Who was at her mansion? Well, she was going to have to find out, wasn't she? She pulled herself off the couch, watching the superawesome dressing gown with the feathers 'round the sleeves trail around her. She went right up to the door and peered through the peephole-the someone had brought her flowers and a teddy bear! She reached and flung open the door-

Oh, this was a void. No flowers. No teddy bear. Where was she?

She was sitting next to a vending machine. She was sitting next to the vending machine in the playground, and her friends were with her, and she'd eaten far too much chocolate. 

She was holding flowers, though, so maybe she really had just been in her mansion-

No, no.

"Cassee? You okay?"

Cassee King smiled at her bestest friend.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

The group sneezed violently.

"Well, there's that, apparently-"

"Let's go!"

4

He'd thought it ridiculous when they'd begun sending children out to fight his pawns. How mad could people get?

But then they'd won.

They'd beaten the right sort, but how? They were small, insignificant. He'd seen two for the first time as he'd set up a simple plan, the early steps in motion. They'd crushed him in the rubble.

So he'd hung back. 

He'd waited, he'd observed. He'd decided that those he witnessed now were too powerful, that he'd never beat them, they had too much experience.

So he'd bided his time until there was a fresh batch, until there was new blood.

And here they were. 

He'd waited just long enough, observed and documented, but hadn't let them grow strong. He could crush them. Under his heel, like a bug. But that would be too obvious, too visible. 

His game was too complicated to ruin it over something so silly. He just had to wait. He just had to watch. He just had to play.


	3. Chapter 3

Great, you're still here. I looked up some jobs! If you'd like to listen?

Okay, so I've got all the typical ones-dentist, doctor, architect, artist, teacher-and some more interesting ones-how would you like to be a food scientist?

Not for you?

Well, sure, dude, let's go with some other thing. This didn't take me ages or something. Why would it have done-

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just wanna go back to those guys? 

They're more interesting than the lady in the chair. I know. Going into it now.

5

Cassee had a big hole in her memory.

This was nothing new-she'd been dealing with the random gaps in time for as long as she could remember, but that didn't mean it got any easier. She knew that something had to have happened. One second she'd been in the bus, excited for the mission, then she was back. On her way back, that was. Something had happened, she knew that much-a battle had taken place. There was a fresh graze on Roxy's cheek, a new cut on Elijah's shoulder, but Cassee couldn't remember how they'd come to be there. 

She'd blinked-she'd actually blinked, and time had slipped through her fingers like grains of sand.

Just because she was used to it didn't mean it wasn't the sort of thing you panicked over.

Maybe all she needed was some kind of clue? Some trigger, to give her back her missing minutes. Maybe all she needed was a few answers. So, she tapped Roxy's shoulder.

"What happened?"

"We fought. We won."

"But…who did…who did we fight, Roxy?"

"Cassee, it doesn't matter. It never does."

It did matter. She wanted to know. She wanted a full picture of her own life, thank you very much. Even the silly, smaller things. 

"Was it that purple lady?"

"No."

"The bee guy?"

"Cassee, no."

"That brick person-"

"It doesn't matter. Stop with the questions, please."

Cassee sank back down into her seat. She just wanted to know. She wanted to understand. This wasn't fair.

They were almost back now. The ground was rushing up to meet them, according to the view out her window, but why should she care? It would just blur together with everything else. 

No, no, no! This wasn't…everyone else seemed all sad and tired. She couldn't be sad and tired with them. She had to be happy, and bubbly, and bouncy, until everyone else was too. That was how she worked. That was how this worked, and they needed her to be like that, and there wasn't an excuse. She chased the fog out of her mind-she had to focus. Right now.

"Okay, team. You have about twenty minutes before school ends, so there's no reason you should have to go back to class. Just hang out in the playground."

Jackson's voice was crackly, since he was speaking from the cockpit, through the intercom, but Cassee could still make out all the words, so it didn't matter. Jackson tended to be pretty easy going when it came to them going back to class. Cassee wasn't quite sure why.

They'd landed. She dashed out of the bus first, like she always did. They'd had two whole missions today, that was new! That was exciting! That was the sort of thing you could gush about if you tried hard enough. 

Maybe if she found something to be excited about…

Oh hey! Visitors!

They weren't…technically supposed to be here, but they always were. Cassee was pretty sure Jackson and Miss Beauchamp had given up on trying to get them to leave.

Sitting at Miss Beauchamp's desk, going through files, was Mrs Brand, who was shaking her head and highlighting something. Over by Jackson's command module, Mr Brand-or just Brand, sometimes, it kept changing-was reviewing mission notes. In the middle of the room, holding what was probably a fairly dangerous weapon, a six-year-old girl squealed and giggled. Cassee heard Jackson sigh from behind her, before rushing forward, waving his hands.

Cassee smiled. He wasn't going to accomplish anything.

"Brand, sir, with all due respect, that's no longer your job-"

The man being addressed didn't bother turning around.

"Well, Braceface, you clearly aren't doing it correctly."

Jackson made a spluttery noise of indignation. Miss Beauchamp was talking to Mrs Brand-Cassee heard something about summarising briefings, and promptly stopped paying attention. Instead, she went over to the aforementioned six-year-old, who had just shot a decently-sized hole in the nice roof.

"Hey, Ari!"

"Cassee!"

Arina Brand was no stranger to the base they stood in now, despite not truly being old enough for team membership. She and her parents showed up more than Mr-than JACKSON would care to admit. Cassee thought it was a little bit hilarious, and that playing with the girl was always a fun game.

"Can I have some bubbles, Cassee?"

Cassee closed her eyes and pictured them-large and glossy, floating through everything, not coming from anywhere. When she opened her eyes, one popped on the tip of her nose. 

In the background, Jackson yelled about intruders and everyone else continued doing what they'd been doing before. The entrance to the playground booted up and spat out three more people, talking to each other as they walked to the vending machine. The tallest of them was holding a cardboard box with a capital-letter impact font company logo on one side. Jackson noticed these figures and stopped being mad at Brand in order to be mad at them.

"FLINCH! THE VENDING MACHINE DOESN'T NEED RESTOCKING!"

"Yeah, Braceface, it does. We have these new candy bars-see?"

It would have been difficult to tell the difference between the candy bar in question and the many others Julio's company produced if the bars in question weren't in decidedly unique, violently purple packaging. The people with him were both testing said candy bars. 

"HEY WHY ARE YOU BACK-"

Duncan and Matilda were, in fact, back because they'd run into Julio when attempting to leave. Jackson didn't give them time to answer this, but then, neither did the entrance tube, which whirled aggressively and spat out a man, then the man's glasses, bouncing ahead on the floor. 

"Oh, god, why-Hey Hodges, what the hell are you doing here?"

The man scrambled up, ramming his glasses back onto his face.

"I dropped you off, remember? Because your car's with Duncan again?"

"That's going well, by the way-"

"It should be, you spent five straight hours in the garage-"

"Oh, so my roommate's just here to pick me up. That's an acceptable reason for being here. No-one else has a reason for being here-no-one else should be able to get in!"

Brand, standing right behind him, seemed calm enough.

"We've been over this-attempting to lock the rest of your former team out of the system locks both you and Pufferfish out. Until that's been fixed, you're going to have to deal with us."

"Why are you here, Brand?"

"Me and Viktoriya just needed to drop Ari off. You're babysitting her."

"I'm what?"

"Viktoriya? We're going to miss our reservation."

"Oh, sorry-"

"No, why are you--!"

They were gone. Cassee was pretty sure Mr Brand was smirking. 

The school bell rang, muffled but still loud enough to signal the team's rushing out of the playground. Cassee bothered to hug Ari first, but couldn't be late-her mum was coming to pick her up today, which was a rare treat, and she didn't want to keep her waiting. 

Roughly thirty minutes and one incredibly difficult storeroom-dive later, a car seat had been installed in the back of Heathcliff's car and two men and a six-year-old girl were on their way back to an apartment. 

"Are we going to maybe talk about the ray gun in my car?"

"Don't question this one, Hodges."

6

Something here was wrong.

They were to be eliminated. He'd had his plan-he'd brought out a particularly efficient minion. They should have been gone. 

He'd succeeded in Subtle Mind Manipulation.

THAT WAS IT!

They should be dead. They were slightly irritated. 

He knew what it was, of course. 

That girl, somehow, for some forsaken reason, had managed to change his minion. She'd altered reality itself. 

He'd assumed…well. It seemed silly now, but it had seemed as if all the girl did was pull snacks out of some pocket dimension. 

He'd been wrong, clearly.

One of his associates was now so soft-hearted and useless he'd had to wipe memories and cut the man loose. 

He was going to need a better plan.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey! Sorry for being a bit irritable last time. Promise I'm all better now.

Yes. Promise.

Anyhow, I have to stay calm, I have to keep…

Story. Back to story.

7

Angie King was a lot of things. She was hardworking. She was a brilliant artist. She was great at remembering things. She was undeterred by almost every obstacle. 

But above all, she was a mother, and she was a woman who kept her promises.

So, when she'd told her daughter that they could walk home together, she'd begged her day-job boss to give her just two hours off. She'd have to work extra another day, she'd have to hurry a little more getting to the restaurant that day, but she could make it, and now she and Cassee could walk back to the apartment together, and that was something.

Cassee ducked, skipped, and dived through the crush of people clamouring to burst through the school's gates first. It didn't really matter, they'd get there eventually. No-one else seemed aware of it. 

People were silly like that. 

People her age, specifically, were silly. They were embarrassed to be seen with their parents. Cassee had never had that problem, and almost barrelled her mother over when she crash-tackle hugged her.

"Hey, kiddo."

"Mom!"

Angie King gives, in Cassee's humble and very biased opinion, The Best Hugs In The Galaxy. This is not a thing up for debate. It takes Cassee a minute to stop hugging her mother, and most of the other kids have already left by the time she does. Cassee grabs Angie's left hand and starts walking.

"How was your day?"

"Work was the same as ever, Cassee-girl. I want to hear about your adventures."

"Okay! So, in the morning, we fought of these robot aliens from outer space, before first period even…"

Every word out of Cassee's mouth is true, or at least true by her perception of events. NERDS made its way in there, like it always does, and as always is overshadowed by the events of the world inside Cassee King's head. Angie nodded and filed away the information, swinging their hands as Cassee gestured like a tiny madwoman with her free one. 

The woman is still listening when she looks over to across the street. She had no reason to look, and no expectations on what she was going to see. 

Not that.

Angie froze.

Cassee frowned.

"Mom, what is it?"

Angie gulped and kept walking.

"Someone from my school days. No-one important."

"You're okay? Who were they?"

"Just a journalist. Interviewed me for the school paper, that's all."

Cassee's pretty sure that's not where the story ends, but she skips along anyway. Mom will tell her when she's ready.

Now, Mom needs to hear about the super-wicked-awesome kick Roxy did to that one robot thing.

They walk back into their apartment a few minutes later. Cassee kicks off her shoes and throws her bag down. Home! She's home!

Cassee likes home.

Every single surface is covered in Angie's paintings. The dining table has a renaissance-style masterpiece on it, their couch has been covered in an abstract splatter-paint, and there's a landscape on the shower curtain. The lights flicker sometimes, the water goes cold randomly, and there's not really enough room, but it's amazing.

And today, Mom's here, right up until she leaves for her shift at the restaurant! 

So Cassee and Angie made dinner together, instead of Cassee making dinner and putting some in the fridge for when Angie gets home, and they sang along to one of Angie's CDs as they peeled vegetables and boiled water. Cassee kept stopping to hug Angie. Mom was the best.

Cassee told Angie, over dinner, about a few recent memories she was pretty sure were daydreams. The conversation switched and they talked about the sunset Angie was painting. Something wasn't working, and neither of them could figure out why. 

Angie left after they'd done the washing up, complete with singing along to ABBA with a scrubbing-brush microphone. Cassee walked through the empty apartment and plonked herself on the couch, in front of the old TV that only worked in black-and-white. Instead of turning it on, she closed her eyes.

The world lit up.

Cassee King was at a garden party, or something like that, sitting among beautiful flowers illuminated by the fairy lights that hung above her head. She felt pretty, wearing something pale and soft and twirly. All her friends were here-Lesley and Roxy getting along, even dancing together to the soft music coming from nowhere, Elijah holding on to a flower arrangement and grinning. Her mom was a little further away, showing one of her paintings to Jackson and Miss Beauchamp, and Duncan and Matilda were dancing, and Julio had a slice of cake from one of the most beautiful cake's she'd ever seen, and Mrs and Mr Brand were twirling Arina between them, and there was General Peet and Heathcliff too, and…

Where was Ashton?

Oh, there he was! He was smiling at her! A real, genuine smile, and he looked not tired, and he was…wearing a suit?

Come to think of it, everyone was dressed a little bit fancy. Well, this seemed to be a very fancy garden party, so…

Ashton was coming over to her now. He offered a hand.

"Want to dance?"

Well, wouldn't you know it, Cassee certainly did. She let Ashton lead her off the chair she'd been on and…

Her dress was longer than she'd thought it was. Paler, too, almost white. Was she wearing a cape? There was something hanging down the back of her head.

Ashton spun her around. Was he taller? His hair looked a little different…everyone looked a little different.

Older. Everyone looked older.

What sort of garden party was this?

The phone rang, rather violently, and Cassee scrambled to grab it.

"Hello?"

"Cassee?"

"Roxy!"

Her bestest friend was calling her! Cassee's daydream ran straight out of her head. 

"Sorry for being angry earlier."

"It's okay!"

"I wanted to talk to you more, because I know the mission didn't stick in your mind."

"All good!"

"So, you did some really cool stuff. There was this crazy guy…"

Cassee listened to her best friend talk, trying her very absolute best not to ask too many questions. She successfully made Roxy laugh, though! She was winning!

At…everything!

"And…there was another one?"

"Yeah, there was! But I took care of them…Lesley helped a little bit too, I guess."

"They did?"

"Yeah. But don't tell them I said that."

Cassee smiled to herself.

"I won't. Anyway…"

Cassee was smiling when she hung up the phone. She had an idea.

8

The Man In The Tan Suit was smiling.

He had a minion to pick.

So many choices…

He had practically won already.


	5. Chapter 5

More story…

More story…

Don't focus, don't focus…

9

Cassee had thought about it for ages, but then she'd gotten them. 

She'd pulled a series of books both Roxy and Lesley were guaranteed to like, because that was their entire purpose. They were about spies, which Roxy liked, in a dystopian future, which Lesley liked, with a bunch of explosions, which they both liked, and a tiny, tiny amount of romance neither of them would admit to liking. The author's name was blurry, but they sat here, in her lap, neatly wrapped up.

Lesley's fourteenth birthday had been three days ago, and Roxy's was four days away, so it was the perfect point to give them these. And then they could talk about them and be happy and not argue!

Ha! Cassee was so smart sometimes.

Lesley smiled and hugged Cassee when she handed over the books just before the first bell. They had finished half of the first one by lunch.

Roxy lifted Cassee onto her shoulders as a thank you when the small girl presented her with the books. She read them slower, but the first one was finished by the time her birthday rolled around. Cassee said absolutely nothing when she noticed the two of them talking, not yelling, while Lesley kept reading the third one.

She just giggled to herself.

The day after Roxy's birthday, Arina was at the Playground again. Cassee played a clapping game with her during her free period. Miss Beauchamp watched them while she made notes on Elijah's latest (heavily embellished) mission report. 

"Up, down, swing…you got it!"

"I did?"

"Yeah! You're really good at this!"

Arina grinned at the older girl.

"Let's do the whole thing this time, okay?"

"Yeah. From the start."

They're barely halfway into it when the lights start flashing. Jackson ran across the playground, spilling his coffee and yelling things that make Miss Beauchamp start yelling at him. He slammed a button on his desk, and Cassee's head threw itself forward as she sneezed. 

"Mission-Wow, Daydream got here fast-Mission alert."

Miss Beauchamp frowned at him.

"Daydream was already here, Braceface. She was here when you chose to use that language. So was Arina."

Jackson spat out the remainder of his coffee.

"Brand's…gonna kill me."

"Yes. He is. That's why you aren't supposed to say stuff like that while you're in the Playground. That's why Peet banned swearing. Remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. Where's Arina going?"

"She's coming with you. She's your responsibility."

"What?"

Miss Beauchamp marched over and picked up the six-year-old. 

"Cassee, let's go. Everyone else should have gone straight to the School Bus."

"Okay! Can I bring this?"

"What…Cassee, where did you get…well, sure, bring the cake with you. You can eat it on the way."

Arina cheered. The three of them left before the still-spluttering Jackson, who had to run to keep up. 

Cassee shared the cake with everyone else while they listened to Miss Beauchamp telling them about the mission. Cassee heard the important parts: There's a bad guy in this city, he's blowing things up. 

What other stuff did she really have to know?

Nothing. No stuff. Just in case she wasn't clear there. 

Miss Beauchamp handed over parachutes. Cassee left the cake on the floor, with Arina. She's the last one out. 

Here, she does not refer to Cassee. It refers to Arina, who grabbed the spare parachute and slipped past Mindy before anyone can do anything to stop her.

When Jackson heard about this, he slammed his face into the panel of buttons in front of him, which turned everything upside down. 

Miss Beauchamp's voice sounded in Cassee's head.

"Ari has jumped out of the plane."

Cassee yelped.

"She knows how to use a parachute. She should not be anywhere near the villain. We'll come in to pick her up as soon as possible, keep her away from any and all fighting."

They landed safely, outside the villain's blast zone, but only just. Roxy delegated everyone roles.

"Insomniac, close-range attack. Bookworm, evacuate civilians."

"How?"

"Make them think there's explosions behind them or something, just get them to move."

Ashton had already headed towards the centre of the disaster zone. Lesley stayed where they were and raised an eyebrow.

"…please. Please get them to move."

Lesley was gone, but they smiled at Roxy first.

"What about me?"

"Silvertongue…long range attack. Yes, you can give yourself laser eyes."

"I've always had laser eyes!"

Elijah was gone too, firing at several things he probably shouldn't have been firing at. Roxy turned to Cassee and Arina. 

"Daydream, keep Arina out of danger. Don't let her see any fighting. Okay?"

"Okay!"

Cassee half-saluted, using one hand to hold the back of Arina's overalls. The smaller girl strained determinedly.

"I could help! Mom and Dad let me fight all the time!"

"I'm going to leave now. Don't get distracted. Can I trust you?"

"Of course!"

"Good. See you guys soon."

And then Roxy was gone, and Cassee was holding a small wiggly individual as best she could. Cassee liked hanging out with small kids. She'd thought about a small kid yesterday. Two of them, actually.

She'd been chasing them, two girls, through her favourite field. The one with her butterfly. They'd laughed and giggled, all three of them. She'd felt like a giant, standing in her field. Bigger.

She was feeling bigger in a lot of daydreams, recently. 

Then someone had been chasing her. Not one of the girls. Someone. They hadn't been a bad someone. They'd been playing too. But she hadn't seen their face.

She hadn't seen their face, and she hadn't seen Arina run out of her slacked grip, straight toward the fighting. She saw the absence now, though, and started after the blue-jean blur that was already disappearing fast.

"ARINA!"

Where was…where had she gone?

Casse had seen her. Just a second ago. Find her again, find her again…

Why was she up there?

Arina waved from a nearby roof. Cassee raced alongside her, through the streets, as the former jumped across buildings like she was playing leapfrog. Got to get her…get her down…

Arina's foot slipped. She squealed. 

She fell.

Cassee dived. 

A man, holding a ray gun, stalked into their alley only a minute later. He looked, but he saw nothing. 

Behind a dumpster, Cassee hugged Arina to her chest, one hand over the smaller girl's mouth. They can't make any noise. They won't make any noise.

He left. Cassee allowed herself to breathe again. Arina cried, soft and heartbreaking. Cassee found herself unable to do anything. The girl had hurt her ankle. Not too badly, but it was hurt and she was scared.

They were both scared.

Hurry up, guys…

Later, Arina's forgotten about the scary part, and is recounting Cassee's dive to Miss Beauchamp as her ankle is fixed. Cassee is quieter, and only barely managed to smile when Elijah fell over attempting to prove he can totally do a backflip, and was not exaggerating. 

When they got back to the Playground, Julio is restocking the vending machine, and making more room by eating most of the existing candy. Cassee didn't run over with pretty much everyone else to see what they're getting.

Ashton noticed this. No-one else did.

"Hey. Sunshine. You okay?"

"I'm…fine. See?"

Cassee's smile can't hide how worried she was. Ashton gave her a clumsy half-hug, pretty much just throwing one arm over her shoulder, then left in something close to a hurry. 

She felt better after that point, oddly enough. 

She felt better still after she's eating a new marshmallow bar, straight out of the vending machine. It stuck to her mouth, but tasted awesome. Julio ruffled her pigtails.

"Good one?"

Cassee nodded up at him, teeth stuck together. She stuck out a thumbs-up. 

"Ah. Good."

His tone changed a bit. So did his grin.

"You and Insomniac are getting along well?"

Yes? Why would they not be?

She's confused.

"Ah, you haven't…talked about it?"

Talked about what?

"You haven't noticed?"

Cassee shook her head. Noticed what?

"…BRACEFACE, YOU'RE RUBBING OFF ON…NO, YOUR PROBLEM, LISTEN TO ME!"

He left Cassee sitting there. She finished her marshmallow bar.

What was she not noticing?

10

The Man In The Tan Suit must be running out of time. They didn't even bother with the girl he now knows is their strongest member. 

No more weakening, no more testing.

He has to pick someone, and he has to send them in fast.


	6. Chapter 6

Getting better.

It's getting better.

I'll get better.

Which button…

Ah.

11

History class was one of Cassee's favourites, and it wasn't just because all her friends were in it with her. 

…That part was definitely a bonus, though.

Elijah attempted to convince a non-captive audience (Roxy) that he could lead an army, if he really wanted to. He was seated in front of Cassee, and she had caught a good deal of a decidedly hilarious conversation. On Roxy's other side, Lesley sneakily read the fourth birthday-present book under the desk. Their face was extremely interesting. 

Next to Cassee, Ashton tried to keep his eyes open. He was doing a horrible job.

Cassee didn't pay huge amounts of attention to the rest of her class, because a lot of them were very mean to her and her friends. She'd paid attention to the girl sitting across from her last year. She'd thought said girl was nice. And also very pretty. She'd even been thinking about trying to talk to said girl more, maybe even ask her somewhere. But then she'd called Roxy stupid, and Cassee thought she was a whole lot less nice and even less pretty. The ugly thoughts must have done it.

Their teacher, a very nice woman who gave lollipops to people with high test scores and encouragement and actual help to people without them, paused her talking about medieval Europe for a minute. 

"Lesley? Oh…Thorne. Dear, sorry, could your book wait?"

Lesley's head snapped up. Their earing flung itself forward and then back like a swing. 

"Sorry, Miss!"

"It's alright, sweetheart. I know this part of the presentation's a little slow, but we do have to learn the boring things to get to the interesting information, so I'm going to ask you to just stare ahead and pretend to listen for a few more minutes."

Lesley nodded, looking slightly embarrassed. Roxy punched their shoulder (just lightly) once the teacher had turned back to the board. Cassee heard a thud to her left. Ashton's head had fallen into the desk when his eyes closed. 

Elijah continued a whispered, one-sided argument as Cassee moved Ashton's head from the desk to her shoulder. She needed to think of something nice, now…something to chase his demons away.

Cassee closed her eyes. 

This was new.

Cassee didn't like this. Everything was dark, everything was weird. There was nothing. She was entirely numb. Where had everyone gone? What was-

Cassee sneezed. 

Ashton had sneezed his head right off her shoulder. Everyone had sneezed. They had to get out of here. Roxy raised her hand.

"Miss?"

"Yes, Miss Hall?"

"Could…could me and my friends go to a club meeting?"

"That book club sure does have weird meeting hours."

"We'll get the librarian to sign permission notes next time."

"Alright. The presentation will be-"

They were gone.

When they got to the gym, where the School Bus waited, Miss Beauchamp greeted them.

She looked different. What was it? Her hair looked the same…same bob, same fringe…but her clothes were sort of…darker. She looked cool, Cassee decided, even if there was a certain odd element to it.

"Your shoes look nice, Miss!"

"Thank you, Cassee."

"Do you have to go anywhere?"

"No. I'm just…I used to wear boots like these quite a lot. I got a lot of compliments. I found a pair that reminded me of some old ones. Old times."

Was it Cassee's imagination, or was Miss Beauchamp glancing at the School Bus?

…at something in the School Bus?

Hm.

Cassee was pretty sure she knew what had happened. 

She was the last on the School Bus, still thinking. Everyone else had already started teasing Jackson, who had spat coffee on himself again. Miss Beauchamp was flying this time, so the teasing continued after they took off.

Everyone else did get bored eventually, and went to sit around. Cassee stayed next to Jackson.

"You don't have to say much, y'know."

"What…what are you talking about, Cassee?"

"You could just start by telling her she looks pretty."

Jackson wasn't speaking, so Cassee kept going.

"She tried. Even if you just acknowledge it a little bit, it's a start. Right?"

Jackson hadn't said anything. Cassee went and sat down next to Roxy. The two girls were deep in conversation by the time the man went into the cockpit.

"Uh…Hyena?"

"What's up, Braceface?"

"You…you look nice."

The Hyena, formidable former assassin and current spy, woman of international renown and terror, would have told you she'd blushed, but then she'd have to kill you.

"Thanks, Jackson."

When the team landed, Cassee was singing to herself. It wasn't a tune anybody present recognised, not even Cassee herself, but it worked, so what did it matter?

They fought. It wasn't anything special. In fact, it was almost boring. 

Cassee felt weird.

She wanted to go into her head, but she was stuck in the void every time she closed her eyes. She didn't feel bigger in the blackness. She felt the same. Numb. But the same.

She stayed out of her head.

The world around her looked rougher. Punches seemed to hit harder, grazes seemed nastier, yells were louder. 

Someone had taken the filter off the world. 

And something was very, very wrong. 

12

The Man In The Tan Suit kept one hand resting on the file as he stared at the woman on the other side of his desk.

"It's been a long time."

"You said you'd need me eventually. I didn't doubt it."

"Of course not."

"How bad has it gotten?"

"I'm not just asking for your advice."

"Oh?"

"I'm calling in that favour."

His face twisted itself into a cruel imitation of a smile. Hers seemed to split neatly down the middle.

"They'll be gone before the next sunrise."

"Oh, darling."

His hand left the file. 

It found hers.

"I don't doubt it."


	7. Chapter 7

I wanted to be…

I wanted…

You get to be…

I wanted to be…

13

Cassee King was aware that everything was wrong.

She couldn't get inside her own head. 

Ashton kept falling asleep.

Elijah had barely spoken, much less bragged.

Earlier, someone said the words 'Make me' to Roxy and she didn't even move.

Lesley hadn't even read the book they kept tucked under their arm.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The whole world is rougher. 

Angie seems so exhausted. So sad.

Cassee was screamed at while she walked to school. 

Wrong, wrong, wrong. 

She hated this.

That's not a word she used. But everything was so WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

She could feel it. She didn't know what it was. But it was making everything wrong.

Screwed with her head. It wasn't what brought the void, though. It was just messing her up.

She was not surprised when she sneezed during lunch.

It was imminent. They all knew that much.

Cassee just couldn't summon the excitement she usually brought with her when she fell through her locker, couldn't even manage a smile as she trudged to the School Bus.

Rough edges.

Boring colours.

She was so…

Ugh.

Her eyes weren't working right. All the colours were wrong. Too grey.

Is there any point in this? Why does she even have to fight?

It was hard even to lift her feet. Everything was so heavy she could barely walk. 

She didn't want to do anything. She didn't want to do anything at all.

She had to fight.

Fighting was so stupid.

She followed her team toward the city being attacked. She didn't see the worried look that passed between Jackson and Miss Beauchamp.

A city was always being attacked. Make someone else deal with it, just once. 

She wanted to just stop. The feeling was shared by all of them, but none of them bothered to talk long enough to ask. They were barely even looking for the villain.

So, she came for them.

If Cassee was paying more attention, she would have realised how terrifying the woman was. She looked like she'd stepped out of a black-and-white movie. She was grey. Genuinely grey, not merely her hair. She looked like she could have been in her twenties, but she just couldn't have been. She held herself in a way that told you she'd seen a billion sunsets and she hadn't been impressed. 

Her face was broken. 

There wasn't a cut. There wasn't a wound. There wasn't so much as a wrinkle. 

Her face was broken, and her eyes were dead.

"If you'll excuse me…"

She was holding a sword. It didn't really seem like a weapon while she held it. It could have been a flower. It could have been a dog's leash. It didn't seem like something she could have used to harm. 

"I've promised to kill you."

Her voice was so calm. Her eyes were so dead.

"I hope it won't be any inconvenience."

Her sword flashed. Her face split.

"I am a woman who keeps my promises."

She sprung forward. Cassee realised she didn't care.

This woman was going to kill them, and it didn't matter. It didn't matter at all.

The sword flashed again. Cassee felt the metal touch her throat. It wasn't piercing yet, but it was there. 

She was about to die and she didn't feel a thing.

"NO!"

Ashton Queens tackled the woman. Cassee King blinked.

Ashton was screaming. There were no words. There was just rage. It was pure, blinding, all-consuming. The scream of a boy who had almost lost so much. 

So much, after he'd lost everything. 

Ashton Queens wasn't using his demons. He was only using his fists. He was only rage. 

Cassee King felt something.

Ashton punched the broken face. The woman glitched. 

Cassee King wasn't some boring, indifferent psychopath.

Ashton wrestled the sword out of the woman's hands. 

Cassee King was so much more.

Ashton punched the woman again.

Cassee King was going to help.

She ran to Roxy. Her best friend was standing still, staring straight ahead. 

What was wrong with Roxy's eyes?

"Roxy?"

The girl said nothing.

"Roxy. Roxy. Emerous?"

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

"Please."

Ashton punched one last time. The woman's eyes closed. Roxy's started working again.

She fell straight over.

Cassee gasped.

"Ashton? What do we do?"

"Well, first we bring this lady back to…"

But, before their eyes, the grey woman faded, flickered, and was gone. 

Between Cassee, Ashton, and one demon, they managed to get their friends back to the School Bus. They were almost there when Cassee spoke again.

"Hey? Ashton?"

"Yeah, Sunshine?"

"Thanks. For saving me. I'm glad…I'm glad you're my friend."

No answer.

"Ashton?"

Cassee looked back over her shoulder. He'd stopped dead in his tracks.

"What…what's wrong?"

"I'm not your friend."

He was gone, racing ahead, too fast. He didn't speak to Cassee.

He wouldn't speak to Cassee all day.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. 

The other three were back to normal by the time the home bell rung. Ashton was the only one who was still weird.

If Cassee was being perfectly honest, it really stung. 

That might have been why she was simply so overjoyed when she saw her mother waiting to walk her home. Of course, part of that was the typical, but some of it…

Cassee just needed Angie right now.

The walk home was slower. Cassee held her mother's hand, but didn't let it swing. She didn't even talk.

She'd run out of stories.

(wrong, wrong, wrong)

Angie talked instead, mostly just whispers. Her daughter didn't need too much emotion right now. That was part of the reason she tried to stop the gasp when she saw him. Again.

"Mom?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"He's important."

It wasn't a question. Not today. Cassee watched the man on the other side of the street.

"Would you tell me why?"

Angie took a breath.

"When we get home."

"Is that a promise?"

"Yes. Cassee King, that is a promise."

They took longer to get home than they usually did. Neither of them knew what to fault for this. 

Cassee pulls her shoes off and sets her bag down by the door. She feels sort of scared. 

Is this…could this really be…

Angie King sat down on their couch. Cassee snuggled next to her, tucked herself under Angie's left arm. She fit like a puzzle piece.

"When I was…

When I started art school, I was foolish. I was naïve. But I was damn good at painting."

Cassee and Angie giggled a little bit. That piece of the story wasn't new. It was one of Angie's favourite jokes. 

"I was so good, this guy…he wanted to be a journalist. Name was Charlie. He wrote for our university's newspaper. He liked my work so much he came and interviewed me. He took about a billion pictures. He asked me question after question, then he nodded and he put them on his list. Then…he asked me another question. 

You free Friday, Angie?

I was free."

Angie smiled. Just softly. 

"And he was perfect."

Cassee sniffled. She had a feeling she knew what happened next.

"We'd been together for three months. I came down with a stomach bug. It was nothing interesting. Half the people on campus had it. But…I didn't get better.

I realised…I realised what had happened. I…

I stopped talking to him.

I was alone. But then there was you."

Angie held Cassee tighter.

"How could I be lonely when I had you?

I realise now that I loved him. At the time, I thought it would be gone before I could blink. But…

I still love him. Almost as much as I love you, Cassee-girl."

And there they were. 

They were a little bit broken, and they were crying a lot, but they had made it. 

The story Angie King had kept inside her own heart finally brought itself into her daughter's.

It was a perfect sort of imperfect.

14

Well, this was just perfect.

The Man In The Tan Suit had almost known it.

Of course he had. 

She wasn't good enough.

No-one was good enough to beat them, APPARENTLY!

He was going to do this. He had to…

How could…what could…


	8. Chapter 8

I GIVE UP

15

Cassee King opened her eyes and tried not to panic.

She had just been on the school bush.

She was now in the Playground.

She'd closed her eyes. 

Neither of the places were particularly dangerous, but she was worried about how often she'd moved between them without knowing this past week.

It was all so…

Weird.

She was unable to even keep hours straight. Days blurred. Minutes flipped. She was at the mercy of time and her own memory, and they were cruel.

She forced a deep breath. Her friends were here. She'd just look around.

She'd be safe.

Lesley and Roxy were talking. Not fighting, not arguing, not even bantering, but talking to each other. 

Those books were the best idea she'd ever had. 

Elijah was getting bandaged up. She suspected he'd overestimated his own abilities again. He was not hurt too badly, but he had been hurt, which meant their combat lesson would probably be postponed. 

Okay. Yeah. 

She could deal with that.

And…

Right next to her was Ashton Queens. He seemed fine.

But he still…would not talk to her.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Well. Shut up, stupid voice in her head. She'd make it Right. Right. Right.

"Ashton?"

The silence was loud enough to overpower all the other noise.

"Look. Uh. I know you don't think…that I'm your friend. That's…that's okay! I promise. But, you're my friend. Whether...whether you like it or not. But. I hope you do like it."

He was at least looking at her now and hey, that was better than nothing.

She kept going.

"You are…you're an incredible friend, really. She…I didn't have enough motivation to stop my own death. But you did, and I'm grateful. I'll be grateful forever. I'll be grateful if I die this afternoon, because I'll have one less regret. I'll know just a little bit more about myself. And…and that's worth so much! It really is. You're worth so much."

"Don't die."

"Huh?"

"Don't die, Sunshine. I'd miss you."

"…why? Why would you miss me?"

"Because you're my friend."

She laughed. It was the sort of joyful, unabashed sound that made you want to smile. 

He smiled at her.

She flung her arms out and caught him in a hug. Said hug was a far cry from the awkward shoulder-throw he had given her, instead the sort of proper, full hug that made your arms hurt. 

He shook her off. He freaked out.

He ran away.

Cassee stared. Oh…okay, okay. He was gone.

Gone. Gone.

She was fine.

Fine.

Fine.

She barely noticed when she started crying. Matilda did. 

"Cassee?"

The girl being questioned attempted to hide her eyes with her pigtails. 

"Okay. Over here, Cassee. C'mon."

Cassee sat next to Matilda. Why couldn't Ashton just talk to her?

"You alright, kid?"

Sniffle.

"Yeah. They can be stupid, huh?"

Sniffle. Nod.

"Okay, I know Ashton's being an idiot right now…"

Sniffle. Harder nod. Giggle.

"But lots of people are idiots. Because they haven't realised what's going on yet."

"What…what is going on?"

"I'm pretty sure you already know."

"…yeah."

"And don't be deterred! I had to wait five years before Duncan stopped being an idiot-"

Matilda's voice had gotten louder during the last part. Loud enough that the idiot in question could hear her.

"Hey, I take offense to that!"

"Love you too, honey! But seriously, Cassee. He's figuring stuff out pretty fast. Faster than some people did. Faster than some people are, matter of fact."

Cassee was smiling, at least.

"It'll work out."

Cassee was almost back to normal. She was skipping and humming and happy again. She got home from school in decent time for the first time in a week. 

When Angie came home from work, Cassee was waiting with dinner.

"Mom!"

Angie dropped her keys and her bag.

"Mom?"

Angie looked shocked.

"Cassee. Oh, gosh, Cassee-girl, I got a job offer today."

"Wha…no more jobs, Mom! You're working five already!"

"No, no! It…heck, it'd pay so much I could quit the rest of 'em. And…and I'd get to paint. All day, Cassee."

"WOW!"

Angie's blank surprise broke as she smiled at the small girl now dancing around her.

"Take it! Take it! Take it! Take it!"

"Oh, sweetheart. I don't think I can."

"Why?"

"I'd…well, first, I'd have to show them a recent painting and my sunset isn't working."

"I'll help! We'll make it work!"

"And…and the offer was from…I'd…I'd be working for Charlie."

Cassee couldn't see why this was a problem.

"So?"

"So…so…"

"Know what, Mom? I want to meet him. I want to meet my dad."

16

He'd sent her in.

He'd sent the woman who was supposed to be unbeatable. She sapped motivation so no-one could even bring themselves to fight her. She was supposed to be undefeatable, and they'd defeated her.

He could find someone else, perhaps. He still had favours up his sleeve somewhere. He could…

No.

No, they'd win. He knew it well, now. 

If you wanted something done right…

Well, you had to do it yourself.


	9. Chapter 9

Guess what, agent? All I ever wanted was to be a spy.

I never got that chance.

I based my entire identity around that ambition, agent. I stayed up and I studied codes, I fought, I took years of whatever I could think of. I was going to be so brilliant. I was going to be the one they called when there was no-one else to turn to you.

But I was too old. 

They bring in fools like you. They bring in crazy children, children who will never be able to deal with what happens after the day is won.

I could have dealt with it.

You know, nobody even gave me a chance. The best I was getting was correspondence. 

I am a glorified secretary, and I will do whatever it takes to be what I was born to be.

Agent, you are in danger. I have sold you out. I've sold you all out.

I will be the hero. I will be the spy.

I just need to get rid of the obstacles first.

I just need to get rid of you.

So goodbye. Enjoy your last file.

17

The Man In The Tan Suit smiled at the file.

His top researchers knew what they were doing. This advantage was greater than he could have hoped for. 

Hello, sweetheart…

Cassee King didn't know where to go from here.

She'd asked for something she thought was reasonable. Her mom had cried.

It had nothing to do with Angie not being good enough. Angie was good enough.

More than good enough. 

She just…

She wanted to know.

When Cassee was very small, when the world inside her head collided so heavily with the one outside it there had been no difference, she hadn't had any questions. Her brain answered them for her.

She'd…she'd had a dad, then.

He wasn't real. But she remembered him. He'd had kind eyes, he'd been tall, and he'd helped her learn so many little things. He'd just been…Dad.

But then she woke up and he was gone, and she'd learned he'd never existed in the first place.

She wanted to know someone like that. She wanted someone to teach her to ride a bike, something Angie couldn't do herself and sure couldn't teach to Cassee. She wanted someone to fill the gap in her world. In her history.

She had a past, but she only knew half the story.

Was this what would bring the world inside her head back?

Charlie. Charlie Seemour. Dad. 

Her mom had already liked the way his last name was spelled, and had altered Cassee's name so just a little bit of his name showed up in hers. Casey, her mother's favourite name since childhood, turned into…

Her.

…would she become Cassee King-Seemour?

No. She was Cassee King. She'd been Cassee King for thirteen years. She'd continue being Cassee King…maybe until she died.

Maybe she'd take…

No, don't think about that. You're thirteen and you don't even…thirteen. Might not…! Stop, Cassee. Focus. Just for a second.

Focus.

Cassee King was standing in front of her locker. She was hopelessly, terribly late for first period by now. 

There was a certain…anticipation. She just felt...

She stopped regretting waiting as her nose itched. She sneezed, hitting her head on the metal of her locker but hardly noticing it.

She was through it before she could blink.

The Playground was so close to being empty. Usually, there were dozens upon dozens of scientists, at least a few people training…

Cassee counted one, two, three, four, five, six, seven people.

That wasn't…What was…?

Seven people.

A team…a friend turned enemy turned friend…an assassin turned ally. 

This seemed like a bad sign.

"Cassee. Daydream. Cassee!"

Miss Beauchamp's voice was quiet, but against the silence it sounded like a shout.

Cassee took a few cautious steps.

Each of them sounded loud enough to start an avalanche. 

"Okay, Cassee. Listen to me for a second, okay?"

Cassee nodded. Miss Beauchamp smiled, but it did nothing to distract from the worry she was holding in her eyes.

"Okay, so you know how there's been a bunch of really hard missions recently?"

Cassee only remembered about half of them. She nodded anyway.

"So, we found a mastermind."

Oh.

Oh no.

"We…we aren't equipped to attack any base."

"I know, kid. You'd need backup. We can't provide that right now."

"Where is-"

"We found out about them when they robbed us blind."

There wasn't a thing on any bench. There wasn't any scientist to whip something up. Everyone was clustered around one of the benches. Duncan was fixing something, and Heathcliff was giving a good deal of input. Cassee wandered over. Miss Beauchamp did nothing to stop her, and instead went to talk to the rest of the team, only getting here now.

Cassee couldn't see past most of the adults, but she heard muttering.

"Irreparable. Ha! Nothing's irreparable, they just…"

"Go for that one next-"

"I need another-"

Duncan yelled, triumphant. He held Benjamin up. 

It was clear it had been through a good deal of damage, and wires still stuck out, but a shaky hologram was blinking and speaking. 

"Thank you, former agent Gluestick, former agent Hodges."

"No problem. You okay? Gonna be able to help?"

The president blinked in and out of view. 

"Perhaps. What is it that needs assistance?"

General Peet spoke up.

"Well, we have five agents and a huge facility. We want backup, and we don't want new agents. We all know how well that went last time."

The group shuddered as a collective.

"I have a suggestion."

"Yes?"

"We could bring former agents in."

"What?"

"Well, I can't install new upgrades in adult individuals. You all know that. But nothing's stopping me from reinstalling upgrades to individuals who formerly had them. And I seem to have five candidates for those upgrades right here."

In the back of the group, Cassee stifled an excited gasp.

General Peet seemed to be considering it.

"We have no better option. Benjamin, access files Pufferfish, Wheezer, Flinch, Gluestick, Braceface. Agent Daydream!"

Casse snapped to attention, and even threw a clumsy salute.

"There is a storage room down that hall. You need to find a harness, a utility belt filled with inhalers, and a mould with braces on it."

Pigtails and a twirly skirt flew behind a purple-and-green figure when she dashed to said storage room. They had to be in here somewhere…right?

Uh…

Cassee was able to actually dive into a pile of gadgets and other things. It was at least twice her size and utterly ridiculous. Cassee would have to tell someone to sort this. But later!

Something, someone was on her side, because she did find them. It too her a few minutes longer than she could probably afford at this point, but she had them and she ran back to the team standing outside the room as fast as she could.

She overheard a whispered conversation between Duncan and Matilda as she deposited her treasure into General Peet's arms.

"But we don't know if it could harm…"

"If I don't, it could do the whole world harm. I think it'll be fine."

Matilda seemed fairly calm. 

"We should at least test--!"

Duncan was freaking out, at least a little bit.

"Test what? This isn't a prep time thing. It'll be fine."

"But it's new territo-"

"It's just upgrades. Calm down."

Cassee shook it off. Had to focus. She left them to it, and headed over to her own team. Three out of four smiled at her.

The fourth turned away as if he couldn't bear to look at her.

Yeesh, Ashton.

Still hurt.

"So…we have a plan, right?"

Roxy opened her mouth. Cassee blinked.

Oh no.

She was now standing on the edge of a crater.

It was the sort of enormous pit that made her panic, but she couldn't afford panic. She could see the building-could see the base-from here. She could see the team, too. Attacking. 

It was always attacking.

…They. They were always attacking.  
Cassee usually wasn't very good at telling when things were serious, but when she noticed the other person on the edge of the crater…

Ashton Queens was crying.

She'd never been faced with this situation before. 

What…what could…

She was going to help. 

But how?

She went over to him. He was sitting, his legs hanging over the edge of the crater, trying to hide his face.

Her breath caught in her throat. He looked up at her when he heard the noise, sharp in between sobbing.

God, he was so beautiful.

She dropped next to him before she could think about what she was doing. 

"What's…what's wrong, Ashton?"

"I…you aren't my friend."

That…that sure wasn't what she'd been expecting.

"Roxy and Lesley and Elijah…I recognise now…uh…they're my friends. But you…you're more than that."

Cassee felt tears welling in the back of her eyes.

"But it's stupid! And horrible! And we're kids…teenagers…young. So it's not like anything will last, no matter how much I want it to."

Cassee's voice sounded weird.

"Why couldn't we last?"

"Because…because nothing lasts. Everything fades. Nothing is eternal, Sunshine!"

Cassee bit her lip.

"I'm going to prove you wrong."

"…how?"

"By loving you forever."

It was at this point she kissed him.

It wasn't perfect. How could it have been? 

Neither of them had kissed anyone before, so it was clumsy and shy. There was the threat of impending doom hanging over their heads, there were so many tears, the ground was hard and they were both so worried about everything.

Yet, if their lives were a movie, the music would have swelled and the camera would have panned out and it would have been easier to appreciate the beauty of the moment.

But this was life.

So, when they separated, they helped each other up, but kept holding hands.

"You ready to win a fight, Sunshine?"

"Always."

There was already a hole in the side of the building, so they entered through it.

There must have been five hundred people fighting the teams. They blurred together, hundreds of shouts and screams but nothing anyone could understand. Ashton raced to help, his demons appearing hot on his heels.

Something in Cassee's mind told her not to follow.

Instead, she walked slowly, possessed by an alien urge, lead to something beyond the battlefield.

The mastermind.

A pair of doors five times her height were, evidently, the stopping point. She opened them.

"Hello, Cassee King."

The door closed behind her.

"I've been expecting you."

The man in front of Cassee seemed perfectly ordinary. He looked older, sure, his comb-over was a bit awful, but he wasn't scary. He was…

So normal. So terrifyingly normal.

He threw his arms out as if he'd been expecting a hug.

"Now, child, is this any way to greet your grandfather?"

Cassee stayed perfectly still, but her eyes went wide.

"Oh yes, Cassee. I am your grandfather. I'm perhaps a little old for it though, seeing as I've just passed ten thousand.

Yes, that's years. Years of age.

Cassee King, you are a very special person. But I'm sure you already know that."

Cassee needed to fight.

"I sure knew it at your age. When I was thirteen, I was taken away from my parents. I suppose they'd be your great-grandparents, hmm?

They've been dead for millennia. Pity, that.

I was told I was an oracle. A prophet."

What could she do?

"I had visions of the future. That's nice, isn't it? Fun ability? You'd know, I suppose. You've had them. I know you have. Don't hide it."

That…were…

"I was told that I would live for as long as it took for me to pass on the ability. I started a society.

I started several. 

You see, Cassee, I have been the driving force behind almost every major event that happened over several thousand years, now. I'm almost at the final stage of my plans. I shall soon be recognised for my genius.

Or. Well, that was the idea. That was the idea before Charlie."

Cassee had seen the future. This man was her grandfather. This was not something…

"Charlie. Your father almost ruined everything, Cassee.

I was terrified that this boy would get my ability. But I was lucky. He didn't possess my ability. I now know it lay dormant within him.

He gave it to you."

Fight! Punch! Break! Don't just stand here! Please!

"Cassee King, for my plan to work…

Well, I'm sorry. It's nothing personal.

You are going to have to die."

Cassee had never understood the expression 'blood ran cold'.

Her blood had never felt particularly cold, no matter how terrified or anxious she ever got.

But now, her grandfather pressed a gun to her forehead and her blood ran cold.

"Well. Now I think about it, what's the fun in dying where no-one can see you?"

Cassee King blinked. She stood in front of the battlefield. As she watched, a bullet flew across a battlefield, heading straight for Matilda. The woman didn't see it.

Her husband did.

The scene played out it slow-motion. 

Cassee King watched as Duncan Dewey took a bullet. Watched as he fell. Watched as Matilda screamed, the sort of desperate, broken scream that would have made it impossible to breathe, impossible to think.

Matilda fell, alternating between trying to help Duncan and clutching her stomach. 

Everyone was being overwhelmed. There were just too many of them.

Cassee couldn't let it end like this.

All her daydreams had been nothing but black for weeks now, but if she'd ever needed to pull something from them, it was now.

The Man In The Tan Suit fired the gun. Cassee could only hope she'd thought about this the right way.

Blood stained a tan suit, and a pair of dull eyes closed for the last time after ten thousand years.

Despite that…

Cassee King was dead.


	10. Chapter 10

My apologies, Agent. We'll be restoring your regular correspondent as soon as possible.

The woman who was talking to you has been apprehended.

My apologies. The file she sent to you was cut off in a place that made no sense. We're sending the final piece of this file to you now. And another file after that, evidently, as my partner likes pushing the buttons for transmitting files.

Again. Apologies.

17, Continued.

Or. She thought she was.

She was there again. She was in the Void. 

Numb. Weird.

But this time, no matter how many times she opened and closed her eyes, she stayed exactly where she was. 

That part was definitely new.

Well, if this was The Next Life, Cassee wanted out.

She could think of worse things than being alone with her thoughts forever, but she didn't want to do this now. She wanted to do this after those visions. After her life.

Hey. Her thoughts.

Cassee had never been entirely clear on quite how her upgrades worked. She hadn't needed to be. Things came out of her daydreams. She didn't need anything more complicated than that.

But…could she do this?

There was only one way to find out.

Cassee thought. She thought like she'd never thought before.

She thought of Elijah. She thought of his wide, smug grins while everyone looked at him, and the tiny smiles when he thought no-one was. She thought of his slightly reckless confidence. The compliments he gave, just a little too ambitious, and the stories he told. 

She thought of Lesley. She thought of their hugs, when she'd given them those books. Their yells, becoming less frequent as they began to get along with Roxy. Their glancing, when they reacted to a book, when their head snapped up and they tried to take in the world around them as quickly as possible. 

She thought of Roxy. She thought of the first time Roxy had told Cassee they were best friends, and always would be. She thought of Roxy, rescuing her as she trapped herself in a daydream and some older kid beat her up. She thought of Roxy's sweet side, and the desperate attempt to keep it under a tough exterior.

She thought of Ashton. The demons that plagued him. The smiles he sometimes couldn't muster. The bags under his eyes, and the sparkles that had lit up his eyes what couldn't have been more than a half hour ago. 

She had to get back to him. She had to keep her promise.

So, with as many thoughts about her friends as possible, Cassee King pulled herself. Out of the Void, back to them.

She wasn't really expecting it to actually work.

18

When The Man In The Tan Suit and Cassee fell, not many people were watching. In fact, only one person was.

The person was crying within a second, whispering two words over and over under his breath.

"My sunshine…my sunshine…my sunshine…"

Ashton Queens had an upper limit. Two demons was the upper limit. Two demons.

At that moment, he was in the sort of state that allowed him to summon twelve.

There was ten seconds of chaos.

"MY SUNSHINE!"

And a battlefield lay still. They'd triumphed. Easily.

But at what cost?

"My sunshine…my sunshine…my sunshine…"

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

Ashton was by her side first, but the rest of them were quick to follow. There was so much blood. She looked helpless. She looked like she'd died confused.

It was breaking his heart.

Cassee King's eyes flew open. 

Several people stopped crying. 

Pretty much everyone needed immediate medical attention, and it was clear that a few people were going to need time off in order to heal, but everyone was alive. Just. 

A few dozen scientists were rescued. Everyone got back to the Playground. No-one was unscathed. No-one was dead, either.

It was okay, as outcomes went.

Time passed at an alarming rate and Cassee, with a probably permanent scar on her chest and several bandages, was forced to confront that she had more or less killed her grandfather, one of three living relatives she had.

That wasn't a great one.

However, when she closed her eyes, it was easier to forget. Her world was back.

She'd been having visions. The Void had been a vision. She could imagine things again.

That was a relief. 

Cassee and Roxy talked. It was almost a normal conversation, and it helped. 

The two were careful to steer clear of subjects like the bloodstains on Cassee's dress, and instead teased each other about Ashton and Lesley, respectively. Roxy was denying that she liked Lesley less and less.

It was nice.

A good deal later, Cassee overheard a conversation. She would overhear a second one later that day, but we'll start here.

Jackson and Heathcliff were talking to each other.

"Okay, so, remember my project?"

"You mean the one that takes up the whole dining table? How could I forget?"

"I finished it. It's…it's a new type of allergy medicine."

"Oh."

"Yeah. It works, but well…I made it for…"

"I know."

"And, well, I don't know how to…"

"Give it to her? Tell her that you've been hopelessly in love with her forever?"

"Shut up."

"You'll figure something out."

"Speaking about girls people have been in love with forever…"

"Oh, here we go again."

"Seriously, you were talking every day until she was fifteen and…what's that excuse again?"

"We just sort of lost touch."

"You guys never even officially broke up!"

"Okay, fine, I'll ask her out again if you give Ruby that thing."

"You have a deal."

They shook on it. Cassee grinned and kept walking.

Later that day, she heard what could only be described as a squeal and went to investigate. Julio Escala was freaking out, and apparently extremely excited. Duncan Dewey was jumping less, but also seemed happy.

"You're serious? You want me to be the godfather?"

"Well, I wouldn't have asked you if I didn't."

"This is the best! I'm so happy for you! And also for me! And Wheezer! This is-"

Cassee stuffed her fist in her mouth and tried not to squeal like the man who couldn't stop jumping up and down. Today was getting less sucky as it went on.

At the end of the day, now bloodstain-free, Cassee made to start out the gates on her own.

"Wait up! Hey!"

Ashton caught up a few seconds after he'd yelled.

"Could…could I walk you home?"

Cassee King smiled so widely it hurt her cheeks.

"I'd like that."

They walked in almost-silence, but it was the sort of comfortable silence that told you they had all the time in the world to speak. A few blocks in, Cassee reached out and grabbed Ashton's hand. 

They fit well together. Like puzzle pieces. 

When they got to her building, there were a few awkward seconds where Ashton didn't know how to say goodbye.

He quickly pressed a kiss to her cheek and made to go. 

Cassee grabbed his arm and pulled him back. She then leant onto her tiptoes and kissed him properly. 

This was harder when they were standing up. She was a good deal shorter. 

It still worked pretty well. 

After that, and a few verbal goodbyes, she watched him leave, unable to wipe a slightly giddy grin from her face. 

When Cassee King swung open the apartment door, she wasn't expecting a stranger to be sitting on the couch, talking to her mother.

When the stranger stood up, she realised he wasn't a stranger at all.

Cassee King had always had her mother's pale skin, but nothing else seemed to have been passed on. This man was tan, but he had the dark eyes she saw in the mirror, the slightly curled caramel hair, the face that stuck out more at the bottom.

This was Charlie Seemour. This was dad.

He smiled, a little awkward.

"You must be Cassee."

He stuck out a hand like he was expecting a handshake. 

Screw handshakes.

Cassee King hugged her father, very determinedly, for the first time in her life. 

Three people talked and learned, hours and hours going by as lives were summarised and then expanded upon. When Charlie Seemour left, it was dark out and Cassee and Angie were sitting together on the paint-splattered couch, staring at Angie's finished painting.

"I finally figured out what was wrong with it, Cassee-girl."

"What was it, Mom?"

"I wasn't painting a sunset. I was painting a sunrise.

It wasn't the ending. It was the beginning."


End file.
